Tire Reviews Tire Tests

The first tire test of 2018 is rather unique. German publication Auto Zeitung have tested six summer tires and three all season tires all in the same test, and while it's going to make the Tire Reviews version of the result at the bottom of this page read slightly wonky, it's a really interesting way of comparing the dry and wet performances of the two tire types.

Keep in mind, the nine tires were only tested in the dry and wet, there was no snow or ice testing to highlight the all season tires year-round abilities. This means this test should just be looked at to see how the all season tires compare to the summer tires in summer conditions, rather than making a purchase decision for year-round motoring.

While studded tires aren't suitable for the UK climate, they are the best way of staying mobile in extreme winter conditions. Each tire can have hundreds of studs, which bite into ice with far more grip than a studless friction winter tire can give. There are of course drawbacks to studded tires, they're very noisy, and they give up a lot of dry and wet performance when compared to a European winter tire, but in climates such as Russia and the Nordic countries where you are likely to be driving on ice for weeks at a time, there's little alternative.

Everyone knows tire performance changes with wear, with the biggest change in tire performance coming from all season and winter tires in snowy and icy conditions.

The drop in performance can be so vast after 4mm that certain countries where "three peak mountain and snowflake" tires are a legal requirement for winter driving, they can lose their legality after 4mm, meaning you only get to use half of your tires tread.

Should this be the case? Michelin have been making alot of noise recently regarding the negative impact of having to scrap a tire with half its tread life remaining, and their arguments are compelling. Not only are you costing the customer more, but you're also causing a much higher negative environmental impact by doubling natural resourse usage and doubling waste.

The 2017 Auto Express all season tire test is a wonderful mix of eight 205/55 R16 all season tires, the Dunlop Sport BluResponse summer tire and the Continental WinterContact TS860 winter tire.

A new feature for 2017 is wet testing at over, and under the magic 7c mark the tire manufacturers recommend we change our tires at.

For 2017 the Polish publication AutoCentrum has tested eight studless winter tires in 185/65 R15. As with the other winter tire tests we've featured across 2017, AutoCentrum tests the winter tires in the dry, wet and snow, but also includes ice testing, a first for 2017.

Six of the tires on test are European winter tires which are available to the UK market, and two of the tires (Debica Frigo 2 and Sava Eskimo Ice) are full nordic friction winter tires, so it should give us a good overview of how these two different types of tires perform, and why Nordic winter tires aren't suitable for the UK market.

Fifty winter tires have been put through wet braking tests, with the top thirty also tested for snow braking performance. Only the top twenty have gone through to the full Auto Bild winter tire test!

This year the German motoring orginisation ADAC have tested winter tires in 195/65 R15 and 215/65 R16.

The 195/65 R16 winter tire test continues Continentals winter dominance, with another win for the Continental WinterContact TS860. 

The 2017 Auto Bild all season tire test has tested ten 205/55 R16 all season tires touring tires, using a VW Golf. This is also the first test to include the new Continental AllSeasonContact tire.

Issue 1,495 of the weekly UK publication Auto Express contains their 2017 winter tire test!

This year Auto Express have tested eight winter tire patterns in 225/45 R17 using a VW Golf in the dry and wet, and an Audi A3 in the snow. 

Auto Express have previously asked us to keep our coverage of their tests to a minumum, so below is a summary of what went on. The full results can be found on the Auto Express website, which we will link as soon as they're online.

Overall, with just 3.9% covering the eight tires on test, it's getting closer every year at the top.

The German publication Auto Zeitung have just published their 2017 all season tire test, and it might be the most UK relevant tire test we've ever seen.

First, they're testing in the most popular 205/55 R16 size using a FWD Audi A3, which represents a large slice of our car market. Then, they've managed to include ten all season patterns, which is more than most all season tire tests manage, but the icing on the cake is the winter tire included for reference is the multiple award winning Continental WinterContact TS 860.

The 2017 Auto Bild All Season Tire Test puts eight 225/50 R17 all season tires through the usual dry, wet and snow testing, and includes a reference summer and winter tire for benchmarks.

The two all season heavyweights of the industry, the Michelin CrossClimate and the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-2, trade results to tie overall in first place. As each of these all season tires approaches year round motoring in different ways, we'll concentrate on the top two places for this write up.

The excellent 2017 Auto Express summer tire test has just been published! This year Auto Express tested eleven 205/55 R16 tire sizes, ranging from the premium end of the market to the budget end.

This year's winner is the Continental Premium Contact 5. This tire has always tested well, but with the newer Premium Contact 6 having already been on the market for 6 months at time of test, it would have been interesting to see just how well the latest version of the Premium Contact range would have done!

The first test featuring the new Bridgestone DriveGuard runflat tire has been published!

Testing ten 205/55 R16 touring tires on a VW Golf, Polish Motor magazine included the new generation Bridgestone DriveGuard runflat tire against the traditional non-runflat competition. 

Following on from the 52 tire shootout, Auto Bild have taken the twenty best tires through a full array of wet, dry, NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) and wear tests.

As a change from the usual FWD hatchback used for testing, Auto Bild tested the 225/50 R17 size using a RWD BMW 3 Series.

For 2017 the German publication Auto Zeitung have chosen to test ten summer tires in 215/55 R17 using a VW Touran.

Like Auto Express, AZ buy their tires on the open market, meaning the Continental Premium Contact 6 and the Bridgestone Turenza T001 Evo are sadly excluded from the test, and are instead represented by their predecessors. To further highlight the complexity of tire testing, Hankook noted the version of the Ventus Prime 3 purchased for the test were an early manufacturer date and intended for OE fitment. The aftermarket fitment of the Ventus Prime 3 Hankook would have preferred to be tested would have had better wet performance.

After testing the unusually large size of 225/45 R17 in 2016, normal service has been resumed for the 2017 ADAC Summer tire test, this time testing sixteen tire patterns in 195/65 R15.

ADAC tests are no toriously data driven and they write very little commentry of their own, so here's our take on the test.

This year Auto Bild have taken 52 summer tires in 225/50 R17, put them through wet and dry braking, and taken the top 20 through to a full tire test.

This year Auto Express have tested six all season tires in the rather large (by all season tires standards) 225/45 R17.

Issue 1,443 of the weekly UK publication Auto Express contains their excellent 2016 winter tire test! This year Auto Express have tested eight winter tire patterns in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf, and like other publications have included an all season and summer tire for comparison.

Each year, the German automotive publication Autobild trump all the other European magazines by putting out a huge winter tire test, and this year is no different.

Starting out with fifty winter tire patterns, Autobild tested all the tires wet braking performance. Once the wet braking order was set, Autobild took the twenty seven patterns which stopped the car within 20% of the best through to snow braking, then the top twenty wet and snow braking results combined this, the full tire test.